Our Tour of Jordan, Nov. 08

Jordan was amazing! The trip started out a little rocky when we arrived in the country only to find out nobody in Amman (the capitol) knew where our hotel was and after 2 hours wondering the city with our backpacks on foot, we got stopped by the police who also tried to located the hotel through their dispatch. That failed! But 10 mins after they left us, they came racing back because they'd found the hotel. Bill and I climbed into the back of the police car (sitting on their bullet proof vests and shot gun) and they delivered us to the door of our hotel. Very exciting, very frustrating! The next morning we rented a car and headed South for Petra. We saw "Petra by Night" which is Petra after dark lit by 1500 candles, it was a lovely experience but nothing like seeing it the next day during daylight which is incredible. Petra is an entire city carved into the multi-coloured sandstone. The Bedouin people still live in the caves within Petra and make all kinds of things to sell to tourists. The next day we headed off to Wadi Rum, a nature reserve, the colours, textures and sheer size in this desert are awesome. From there we made our way up to Al Karak for a night and then a visit to the Crusader Castle there. An early morning visit to the castle followed by a scenic drive along the Dead Sea back up to Amman. We stayed at a great hotel and spa there, and I spoiled myself with a Dead Sea mud facial (no, Bill didn't get what the draw was either!). We went up North towards the Syrian boarder and saw the ruins of the Roman City Jerash. Their temples and theatres are so different from everything else we've seen so far on this trip. For our last day in Amman we decided to see the city itself, so we explored the Citadel, went to the museum there and saw the Dead Sea Scrolls. From there we wandered till we found the Roman Theatre and then went to the bazaar the locals shop at, where we spent a little money and savoured the smells from the spice shops, the colours of the fruit and veggie vendors and the noise of the people doing business. I was kind of sad to go. The mini shake down at the Cairo airport after our flight in from Jordan changed my mind. After our checked baggage was collected and we had to go through security again so we could deal with our transit papers, the very young security guy stopped our luggage and pulled out my zip lock bag of liquids (from checked not carried on luggage) and claimed it wasn't allowed but for a small fee he'd let it pass. At this point I'm trying not to slap him! Bill and I spent down to the last penny our Jordanian money, Bill packed the Egyptian money somewhere but couldn't remember where, and all I have to my name is $5 us. So I gritted my teeth and shook his hand handing over the last of our money. Once we got to the hotel we found the Egyptian money at the bottom of Bill's backpack, which was good. Other than that the trip home was rather uneventful. Bill and I are slowly re-adjusting back to our clock here but I still find I'm asleep by 8.30pm, which even for me is a little early! Bill and I have already decided we'll do this trip again in the next two years! I can't wait!

Luxor, Egypt

We have just finished 3 days in Luxor, where we stayed at the brand new hotel, Hilton Luxor. The hotel was literally 4 days old when we arrived and we made up 7 of the 11 people staying there. Needless to say, we were more than pampered, we were completely spoiled! The hotel was beautiful and the guy by the pool even polished our sunglasses for us. We also went and saw the Temples of Karnak and Luxor, the Valley's of the Kings and Queens, the Luxor Museum, the Colossi of Memnon and the Temple of Hatshepsut. Everything we have seen and experienced has been incredible, beautiful and totally overwhhelming! Luxor was very different from Cairo, it's quieter, simpler and with the Nile running down the centre of town, it's prettier. It's a soothing contrast of the green that surrounds the great river to the heat of the desert that sits just out of the Niles reach. Luxor has so much to see and experience, we didn't get to half of it. We did how ever get to the markets, the one for the locals and the other one for the tourists. They were both loud and busseling. The locals market was all household products and fruit, veggies, meat and fish. While the tourist market is all stuff! Bill and I had a hair raising interaction with a guy trying to sell us some stuff, he would kick us out of his stall and then call us back, until we finally got our price!

Diving the Red Sea

We arrived in Safaga to dive the Red Sea aboard the Emperor Superior. An incredable liveaboard boat with great food, fantastic crew and the worlds best diving. The ship is set up with 9 crew, 2 dive guides and carries 20 guests, fortunately for us there were only 9 of us guests in total. We got completely spoiled! Toby and Louisa, a couple from England, joined us for the trip and so we spent six days basking in the sun and eatting. We did tons of diving and saw so much! We dove with oceanic white tips, one of the top four most aggressive sharks, a hammerhead, moray eels, and an amazing amount of different types of fish. Only one small problem we all got sick! But we fought threw it and enjoyed every second above and below water. We really had a wonderful time and enjoyed every second we spent on board but now none of us can stand still, we're all still rocking gently in time to a rocking boat we're no longer on. On our last day we headed into a popular site used by single day dive tripers and snorkle tours to do our last dive. Unfortunately as we headed into the site and went to stop so we could moor up, we lost our transmission and couldn't reverse and ran into another boat! The skipper told us later not to worry about anything, his brother owned the other boat! There wasn't really any major damage which was good. Apart from that the most exciting stuff was underwater! We are now off for 3 days in Luxor.

Cairo, Egypt

We have arrived ! After over 16 hours in planes and airports, we finally arrived at our destination. Cairo is loud, dirty and hot...but the pyramids are across the street! It is amazing here and so different, the people are friendly and the sites are overwhelming! We have been in Cairo for 3 days and have seen so much and learned so much about the history of Egypt, we had an amazing guide who traveled with us and happily shared all her knowledge and answered our never ending questions. We've seen the City of the Dead, the Pyramids, the Spinx, the Nile River, the Bazzar, the carpet makers, the papayrus makers, the list is never ending! The most insane thing in Cairo is ....the Drivers!! no signals, no street lights, no lanes, just lay on the horn and go, go, go!!! People cross the street whenever and wherever and then there are donkey carts and men on bikes with plywood balanced on there heads stacked high with freshly made pita! I have never seen children so excited to see us, they laugh and run up to ask us our names and have their picture taken with us and as we drive past buses filled with people they smile, laugh and wave. The only downside is there are alot of people expecting baceesh (Tips), it costs you an Egyptian Pound to go to the bathroom. If you don't pay you don't get toilet paper! Apart from that Bill and I are having a great time we are right now sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Hurghada, to go diving in the Red Sea.